236 STALIN'S LADDER by the prison authorities and particularly by the ob- servation commissions assigned to all prisons with power to revise and modify all sentences and their application. The tendency "to bait the bourgeoisie" out of sheer revenge for its privileged standing in the past, which was much in evidence in the early stages of Bolshevist rule, is dying out now that the Soviet government feels itself safely intrenched and an attempt is made to broaden justice, in and out of prisons, to the needs of all classes. Prisoners of proletarian origin, but who are thoroughly depraved, are unceremoniously con- signed to the beginners' group. On the other hand, prisoners ufrom among the classes foreign to the prole- tariat," but whose crimes were not of a class nature, are frequently advanced by the observation commis- sions to a higher grouping, if such reclassification serves the interests of the prison or the state in the same measure as it serves the interests of the prisoner. Prisoners condemned to "strict isolation" are gov- erned by a harsher code. They are kept either in the special prisons reserved for counter-revolutionary offenders or else in the special "political divisions" set aside for such offenders in ordinary prisons. Offenders of this character are not permitted to leave the prison grounds. They cannot be assigned to outdoor work and visitors who come to see them must speak to them through a screen. They are entitled to receive only one food package in two weeks. One or all of these privi-